About

Victorian Village Inc. (VVI) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Community Development Corporation. It was incorporated by a group of concerned citizens in the summer of 2006. They had been gathering informally for three years to address problems dealing with community development, historical preservation, neighborhood master planning, and safety.

Our premise is simple: If we can create an active neighborhood with families out walking the dog, playing in the parks, supporting the medical district, and creating a strong economy, we can save the historic properties by making them the center of activity.

While we are a development corporation working toward new, architectural sympathetic housing to create the neighborhood, we also know that the preservation of our historic houses is crucial to the plan. These homes are important examples of Victorian architecture that have national significance, which include the Mallory-Neely House Museum, the Woodruff-Fountaine House Museum, the Massey House, the Mollie Fontaine House and the James Lee home, which is one of only 400 structures nationwide that is listed in the Library of Congress Record.

Our physical boundaries are Poplar Avenue to the north, Danny Thomas to the west, Madison Avenue to the south, and Manassas to the east.

Apart from a few Memphis Housing Authority high rises, there are only a handful of homeowner/residents in the area. The Victorian Village master plan, produced by Looney Ricks Kiss Architects in association with VVI and the Center City Commission, envisions a neighborhood of single family residences in the core with low rise condominiums and apartments on the major thoroughfares. We intend for the homes to range the full spectrum of cost to insure that we keep an ethnically and vertically integrated neighborhood.

Board of Directors

Our board of directors is composed of residents, business owners, planners, and charitable groups that have an interest in seeing our development plan succeed. All of the major stakeholders in the area are represented.